Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with making carbon nanotubes and more specifically, compositions and methods of making fibers from single-walled nanotubes, double-walled nanotubes, or multi-walled nanotubes.
Generally, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a nanostructure that can have an extremely high length-to-diameter ratio. Carbon nanotubes are members of the fullerene structural family and their name is derived from their size, since the diameter of a nanotube is in the order of a few nanometers, while they can be up to several millimeters in length and may be categorized as single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled nanotubes (MWNTs). Generally, carbon nanotubes are one of the strongest and stiffest materials, in terms of tensile strength and elastic modulus. This strength results from the covalent sp2 bonds formed between the individual carbon atoms. These cylindrical carbon molecules have novel properties that make them potentially useful in many applications in nanotechnology, electronics, optics and other fields of materials science, as well as potential uses in architectural fields. They exhibit extraordinary strength and unique electrical properties, and are efficient conductors of heat.